Poor old Julen Lopetegui really can’t catch a break at West Ham but he probably didn’t expect the Premier League to stick the boot in.
If Julen Lopetegui was hoping for a warm welcome at West Ham, the reality has been more akin to a cold shower.
There has certainly been no red carpet treatment for the Spaniard after replacing David Moyes at the Hammers helm.
On the whole West Ham fans were unconvinced when it became clear Lopetegui would succeed the Scot in the summer.
Initial opinion was influenced by scathing assessment of the Lopetegui appointment in the wider football media.
Guillem Balague was – and in many ways remains – a lone voice desperately trying to justify Lopetegui’s credentials as a top manager.
The Spanish journalist has been exasperated at some of the cynicism and criticism surrounding Lopetegui’s appointment by West Ham.
So much so Balague posted an extraordinary rant aimed at those criticising his compatriot after the dismal 3-0 defeat to Chelsea.
Moyes is a big favourite among the football press. As a result West Ham’s decision to part company with their manager of four-and-a-half years was greeted with almost universal condemnation.Even the Premier League site sticks the boot in on Lopetegui
The Hammers have been warned ad nauseum to ‘careful what you wish for’.
So the knives have been sharpened for Lopetegui before a ball was kicked in anger.
The first sign of it came during the US tour in pre-season. The Sun reported that West Ham fans ‘were calling to bring back Moyes’ based on a couple of comments on social media.
Just three Premier League games in, Paul Merson said Lopetegui was already under pressure to get a tune out of his new-look West Ham team.
Hammers fans appreciate they were always liable to be a work in progress with a new boss, staff, style of play and squad.
But there’s no hiding that big questions are already being raised over the 57-year-old’s appointment.
Lopetegui’s team selections and tactics have baffled and frustrated observers so far.
West Ham have been likened to a collection of high-end sports cars being wasted on a pensioner.
Lopetegui agenda real but Hammers boss not helping himself
The Sun showed the anti-Lopetegui agenda is real when they made an embarrassing gaffe after the last gasp draw at Fulham.
Lopetegui’s tactics against Chelsea raised many red flags, though.
He tasked one of West Ham’s slowest players – Edson Alvarez – with man-marking one of Chelsea’s fastest – Nicolas Jackson. Chelsea coasted into a 2-0 lead with worrying ease as a direct result.
Guido Rodriguez was subbed off in the first half in a clear admission by Lopetegui that he had got things badly wrong.
He then subbed off West Ham’s best player Crysencio Summerville in the second half. That decision was greeted by jeers from the London Stadium crowd – thousands of whom walked out en masse with 20 minutes still to play.
Savaged by the media and pundits and questioned by the club’s owners and fans since, the pressure is on.
What the Hammers boss probably didn’t expect was the actual league to add to the pile-on.
Lopetegui torn apart by official site over West Ham tactics
Because even the official Premier League site has stuck the boot in on Lopetegui.
The Premier League produces a feature on its official website titled ‘What we learned’ after each game week.
Lopetegui may want to avoid reading this week’s.
Because the report really lays into Lopetegui and his tactics for the Chelsea game.
It states ‘Lopetegui’s tactics backfired badly’ and that the West Ham boss ‘got it all wrong’.
So much so Chelsea deserve little praise for a win handed to them on a plate by the new Hammers head coach.
The report absolutely tears Lopetegui apart, saying his tactics are ‘undercooked and confusing’.
The character assassination really does make quite astonishing reading from the official site of the league.
“Chelsea have been lavished with praise for their big win at the London Stadium, but frankly this was one of those encounters that was lost by one team, not won by the other,” the analysis states.
“West Ham United got it all wrong. Julen Lopetegui’s 5-4-1 formation looked undercooked, the confusion within the ranks clear from the outset as players left huge gaps between the lines horizontally and vertically. Chelsea practically walked through the middle.
“The biggest fault was using Edson Alvarez out of position as a centre-back. He man-marked Nicolas Jackson but lacked the speed or positional awareness to do it successfully.
“The first two goals were the direct result of Alvarez being caught out of position, and although we could go into further detail on the build-up – how West Ham’s formation left space pretty much everywhere – there isn’t any need when the flaws at the back were so glaring.
“Jackson’s first-half brace was the same simple move, twice. Dropping off before spinning behind, he easily pulled Alvarez out of position and then left him behind.”
Leave a Reply